


Bait And Trap

by badly_knitted



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Flora & Fauna, Aliens, Community: fic_promptly, Drama, Ficlet, Gen, Rift (Torchwood), Rift Gifts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27104641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badly_knitted/pseuds/badly_knitted
Summary: The Rift brings more weird creatures for Torchwood’s menagerie.Now with added second chapter.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 10
Kudos: 25
Collections: fic_promptly Fills 2016





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my own prompt ‘Any, Any, Flat bats,’ at fic_promptly.

The Rift was well known for bringing all manner of weird and wonderful alien creatures to Cardiff, but some were definitely weirder than others. Ianto couldn’t help but wonder if this was the Rift’s idea of an early Halloween prank, something designed to get them into the spirit of the season.

Bizarre though they were, there was no doubting that these things were alive, though exactly how would be up to Owen to figure out. Being less than a centimetre thick at their deepest part made them appear practically two-dimensional, and they grew progressively thinner towards their edges, with their side flanges, or wings it you could call them that, scarcely thicker than stiff paper. As they fluttered about they rustled like dry autumn leaves.

So far, the team had managed to carefully net around a dozen of the creatures, which were approximately the size of small birds, or… 

“Bats,” Ianto suddenly blurted out. “I knew they reminded me of something; they’re like flat little bats!”

Jack looked at the blue one in his net. “Flat Bats, that’s good, at least we have a name for them now.” He grinned at Ianto. “The Namer of All Things strikes again!”

“Yeah, all we need to do now is catch the rest of the little buggers,” Owen griped, swinging his net at a yellow one, missing, and almost falling over his own feet as it flittered out of reach.

Although they could fly as well as any bird, or bat, for some unknown reason they’d remained close to where the Rift had dumped them. Ianto estimated that there were another thirty or so still on the loose, but while they could have scattered like leaves on the wind, easily eluding all of Torchwood’s attempts to capture them, they’d so far proved unwilling to leave the area, perhaps because it suited their needs. There was a flat wall that they somehow stuck to when at rest, like a bunch of colourful post-it notes, and it appeared that they were feeding on flakes of rust from a nearby fire escape and a battered dumpster, hovering or briefly landing and scouring the corrosion away with a rough patch on their undersides, leaving shining patches of metal behind.

Ianto netted an orange bat and popped it through the hatch in the top of one of the carrying boxes they’d brought with them, then paused in his efforts to catch its companions just long enough to break off some of the rust from the edge of the dumpster, dropping a handful in with the captives so they wouldn’t go hungry. Instantly, several Flat Bats swarmed around his rust-smeared hand, and thinking quickly, he broke off a good, big chunk of rusty metal and dropped it into a still empty box, leaving the hatch open. Like a magic trick in reverse, one after another, the remaining Flat Bats flew down and into the box. As soon as the last one disappeared inside, Ianto shat the hatch and fastened it.

“Is that the lot?” he asked, scanning the alleyway and the wall for any stragglers.

“Looks like it,” said Owen. “How’d you get them to do that? I thought we were going to be here all night trying to catch the blighters.”

“Observation, of course; you should try it sometime. Flat Bats eat rust so I baited the trap.”

“Clever!” Jack grinned proudly at his lover. “Y’know, I have a feeling the bigwigs at UNIT are going to be falling over themselves to rent these little guys. What could be more useful than a rust removal squad?”

Ianto smiled back. “At least our new little friends should get plenty to eat.” 

When it came to earning their keep their new acquisitions should have no trouble at all.

The End


	2. It's A Flat Bat Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Flat Bats are doing well in their new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Prompt 160: Flat at anythingdrabble.

The Flat Bats were settling in nicely. Ianto was housing them in one of the empty cells in the lower levels at present, while he created a habitat for them that would hopefully suit them better. They didn’t seem to mind their surroundings, flittering about at random and splatting themselves like colourful decals on the cell walls and the Perspex barrier to rest, and presumably sleep. 

Ianto wondered if they dreamed, and if so, what about. Their home world perhaps? Did they miss it or was earth better than the world they’d known, a paradise where food was plentiful? In the few days since they’d been sucked through the Rift they already looked bigger, still flat but wider, and slightly thicker in the middle, filling out nicely.

As soon as he’d installed them in their temporary accommodations Ianto had supplied them with various kinds of rusted equipment for sustenance, leading to happy, well-fed aliens and bright, shiny metal implements. There was no shortage of rusted metal down in the archives; a lot of junk fell through the Rift and while it was easy enough to pass along any common earth metals and alloys, such as iron, aluminium, lead, copper, and brass, to the local scrap merchants, the same couldn’t be done with alien metals and alloys. That would lead to too many questions, and potentially disrupt timelines.

The Flat Bats didn’t care about what kind of metal they were given as long as it was rusty, because to them rust was gourmet dining. It was fascinating to watch them flutter over to the latest rusted lump of junk, settle onto it, and fly away again a few minutes later leaving behind a gleaming, rust-free patch. Jack was right; they could prove tremendously useful, and not merely to Torchwood, although for obvious reasons, Torchwood should get the benefit of their rust-removal abilities first.

With that in mind, Ianto was also busily constructing a movable pen, which could be set up around rusty sections of the catwalks and railings that could do with a good clean, and folded flat when not in use. Jack had been all for simply letting the Flat Bats loose in the Hub, but Ianto had worried they might either escape through the invisible lift, develop an appetite for something other than rust, such as wiring or the water tower’s mirror-bright cladding, or get themselves eaten if Myfanwy was feeling a bit peckish. All in all, it just seemed safer to restrict the little creatures to small areas, where the team could keep an eye on them and ensure their safety. Weird though they were, Ianto was already quite fond of them. They were pretty colours, and the soft rustling sounds they made as they flew were oddly soothing.

Forty-seven Flat Bats, flittering around, doing what Mother Nature on some distant alien world designed them to do. It just went to show that not everything the Rift dumped on Cardiff was rubbish. Alien creatures could be rather wonderful!

The End


End file.
